In the first quarter alone, the rise in prices for the workers' basket reached 9%, and in March it hit low-income households harder: it was highest among the unemployed (3.6%) and unregistered salaried workers (3.4%). Data from the Workers' Statistics Institute (IET) of the Metropolitan University for Education and Work (UMET) and the Center for Concertation and Development (CCD), accessed by the Argentine News Agency, shows a growing inflationary context since October 2025, and the 3.3% reached in March represents six-tenths more than in February, reaching its highest level since September 2024. The annual variation reached 31.5%, with an accumulation of 9% in the first quarter of the year. “This data indicates an acceleration compared to previous months, reflecting a growing inflationary context since October,” warn analysts. The report highlights that the March increase was driven mainly by seasonal and regulated components. The division that rose the most was “Education” (8.6%) due to the start of the school year, followed by “Transport” (5.7%), driven by increases in gasoline and buses. Also highlighted were “Clothing and footwear” (3.6%) due to the change of season, and “Housing” (3.5%) due to the increase in electricity. In “Food and non-alcoholic beverages,” the increase was 3.2%, with a notable rise in meats (6.3%), while fruits and vegetables showed decreases. Differences in social groups In a broader perspective, annual inflation shows more contained differences between social groups, with decile 1 recording the highest inflation (31.7%) and decile 10 the lowest (31.3%). In terms of divisions, “Housing” led the increases of the last year (38.6%), followed by “Various goods and services” (38%) and “Transport” (37.5%). This landscape reflects how current economic policies impact different sectors unevenly, posing significant challenges for the country's social and economic stability. Without countercyclical policy National deputy and executive director of the CCD, Nicolás Trotta, strongly criticized the government's inaction against inflation. “Countercyclical policy is not part of the government's recipe, which remains insistent that the market will solve the problems of poverty, income, activity, and inflation on its own,” he emphasized. In his analysis of the results, he warns that “The Government shows a growing passivity in the face of the acceleration of inflation and the deterioration of the economy, in a context where real wages have fallen by more than 6% since last November. The response of the market and the private sector to the government's adjustment and the external shock is necessarily recessive and inflationary,” he pointed out. And he stressed that “countercyclical policy is not part of the government's recipe, which remains insistent that the market will solve the problems of poverty, income, activity, and inflation on its own”. Low-income households March inflation hit low-income households the hardest. It was highest among the unemployed (3.6%) and unregistered salaried workers (3.4%), and lowest among retirees (3.1%). A clear difference by income was also observed: decile 2 experienced an inflation of 3.57%, compared to 3.01% of decile 10. This is because the categories that increased the most—electricity, public transport, and food—have a greater weight in the baskets of poorer households. Meanwhile, the general coordinator of the IET, Fabián Amico, pointed out that “several factors are behind the acceleration of inflation in March. On the food side, there is the problem of meat, linked to the export price for China, and the gradual pass-through of the exchange rate to prices. A crucial factor is the increase in regulated prices, such as electricity, transport, and education, due to the reduction of subsidies in the midst of the inflationary shock resulting from the war.”
